


Bofur and Bombur

by Judayre



Series: Pair and Gender Challenge [5]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Gender binary is for wimps, challenge writing, tagged in chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-15
Updated: 2014-04-27
Packaged: 2018-01-19 13:08:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1470961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Judayre/pseuds/Judayre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four different Bofurs and Bomburs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please read [the explanation](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1145580/chapters/2319756) if you haven't already.
> 
> First chapter is a short short from the modern AU.

Bombur was the responsible one for all that he was the younger. Certainly, when they had been children it had been Bofur the protector, but they were grown now. If it couldn't be eaten or whittled, Bofur couldn't be trusted to finish it.

Bofur always did his best. He had fought for Bombur much of his childhood. He was the one who spoke for Bifur when the accident happened, even if he wasn't old enough for adults to take him seriously. He made them toys when they couldn't afford them and always played with Bombur, even when other boys his age made fun of him for it.

Bombur appreciated him. He appreciated Bifur as well, of course, but he still looked up to Bifur. Bofur was something else. Once they were safe and didn't need him to be the protector anymore, he had relaxed and become something else.

Bofur was a joker. He drank too much and laughed until he was hoarse. He sat up nights with his carving, trying to get the details just right, and then slept through family gatherings. Bofur took nothing and no one seriously, which was why he worked for himself and not at a shop. Bofur could always be found smiling, so different from when they were young.

Bombur didn't begrudge him any of it. He remembered what had come before. It was his turn to take care of his brother and family, and he embraced the opportunity. Bombur was quiet and serious. He didn't mind being the responsible one.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are in the Hudson again.
> 
> Other installments of the Hudson:  
> [Bilbo and Dwalin](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1145580/chapters/2319814)  
> [Balin and Óin](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1155507/chapters/2366815)  
> [Dwalin and Nori](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1392592/chapters/3052771)

"How's Irris?"

"You make active children, brother. I don't think she's gotten a good night's sleep in three days."

Bofur laughed and nodded to the baby looking up at him with wide, serious eyes from a sling across Bombur's chest. "And that one?"

"Quieter," she said with a hint of a smile.

"If Irris wanted quiet children, she wouldn't ask me for them," Bofur pointed out and Bombur laughed.

"Certainly not anymore. We have three of yours already." Her smile faded. "Now what do you really want?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you wanted to know how Irris was doing, you would have come home to see her. What do you really want?"

Bofur threw himself to the bench at her side. "They're mounting a quest to retake Erebor. There's riches in it for anyone who goes."

Bombur frowned. "I didn't think you were one for riches."

"Not for me," he said, waving the comment away like a gnat. "You've eight children and another on the way. I want the best for them, Bombur. I want the best for you and Irris."

Bombur patted the round cheeks of her little one. "We're doing fine. We'll be fine as long as we're all together. We can stand money being tight. We _can't_ stand being without you."

He hugged her, bending to kiss the baby's head. "And the money for apprenticeships? And schooling? And dowries? I love you too much to leave you without. I'm going."

Bombur wanted to argue further. There was a _dragon_ in Erebor. It wasn't even their fight, and Bofur was willing to run off on a fool's errand to get himself killed and destroy her happiness. But she knew her brother well enough to recognize the set of his shoulders and the tone of his voice. He wouldn't change his mind.

She looked down at her littlest one, cradling the warm body to her chest. "Then I am going with you," she said firmly.

And Bofur knew the tone of her voice as well, because he only hugged her and didn't argue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bombur and Irris have 8 living children from 11 pregnancies between the two of them (and another on the way).
> 
> No immediate thoughts on the last two chapters. Send ideas!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bombur has to clean Bofur up after a night out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Implied homophobia and transphobia, very definite aftermath of violence.
> 
> Possibly in the same universe as [this one](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1335373/chapters/2902849), but stand alone.

The baby had just gotten to sleep when Bofur came home, stumbling and singing loudly. Bombur despaired of getting any sleep himself as he hurried downstairs to the door to get his brother in and quiet. He knew as soon as he saw him that it was one of those nights. With a sigh, he led the drunkard into the kitchen, pulling out the first aid kit to tend the visible black eye and bloody nose and anything he couldn't see straight away.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You should have _seen_ his ass, Bom!"

"If this is what you get from seeing it, I'd just as soon pass," Bombur answered, turning Bofur's head gently to see it in the light.

"Was all fine until he saw my whiskers," Bofur answered, feeling no pain through the amount he'd drunk.

"I've told you you should shave when you go out like this."

"And be without my mustache?"

"Then don't go out in a skirt."

"They don't make things that look this good for men."

Bombur sighed again. Even he had to admit that the miniskirt looked good on Bofur, but it got him in so much trouble. "You shave your legs when you get dolled up."

"'Course. Can't show off my legs when they're covered in hair."

"And your face?"

"Looks best with the mustache," Bofur said with a crooked smile and then a hiss as Bombur rubbed antiseptic over a cut.

Bombur frowned, but the subject wasn't a new one and they weren't going to solve it now. He stopped talking and focused on getting his brother cleaned up and quiet. Quiet meant that by the time they stumbled into his room Bofur was already more than half asleep.

"You can't keep doing this, Bofur," Bombur whispered before he went back to his own bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While Bofur definitely is more gender fluid or something else than male, I don't think he really has any community or research in it. It wouldn't occur to him to want to (or need to) change pronouns. He wouldn't know there were other pronouns to change to.
> 
> Also, Bofur is pretty scrappy. The reason it's black eye, bloody nose, and a bunch of scratches and not broken bones, lost teeth, and death is that he's able to fight back. Or at least he has up to now. Bombur is always worried that someone will come back with friends and Bofur won't have a chance.
> 
> Still no ideas for the last one. Toss some out!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Older siblings are know it alls.

"You're male like me."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm older."

Bombur certainly couldn't argue that. But Bofur had just passed twenty and Bombur wasn't even at double digits yet.  
" _Usha_ says only _I_ will know what I am."

"Usha was the oldest," Bofur said. "No one else would know first. I bet Usha knew about the younger ones."

Bombur made a face. Bofur always pretended to know best and Bombur wasn't going to put up with it anymore. "You don't even know if _you_ are male. How would you know if _I_ am?"

"I do so know I'm male!" Bofur protested.

"Yesterday you said you were neither like Usha," Bombur reminded.

"But this time I _really know_ ," Bofur insisted.

Bombur just sniffed and went back to the toys scattered across the floor. Bofur just wanted to pretend to know everything like always. And Bombur knew Bofur was getting to the age where gender started being important, but that didn't mean Bombur had to listen to anything.

After a moment, Bofur gave a defeated sigh and sat across from Bombur to play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thorinsmut found the word "uhyshar" in the neo-Khuzdul dictionary when looking for a non-gender specific word that means "parent." They shortened it to the easier to pronounce "ushar" with "usha" as the shorter version (think mother and mom).
> 
> I'm using it specifically for a parent whose gender is "neither." A parent who is both is "rodik."


End file.
